by Dranna » 10 Jul 2010, 05:01
I played last night at a benefit with my old band, the all-girl Rhythm n' Babes. This was a big show on a large performance stage with singers and other bands. I hadn't played with the band for over a a year now, since they went full-time professional and I could no longer accomodate the regular rehearsals, shows, and gigs. However, each performing band had to have a doctor (the benefit was for kidney patients), so I played bass again after a rehearsal earlier in the week.
The band was quite surprised I brought the Hofner, since they felt a solid, more modern bass would be more appropriate. I used a red ESP Ltd with them before.
Anyway, just before the show, when I opened the guitar case for the sound checks, the house "techie" exclaimed "wow!" and pored over the guitar. The stage hand who set up the guitar on a stand at the stage before the show handled it like a Stradivarius. The other instrumentalists from the bands kept coming to examine it, marveling at the old-fashioned strap.
It sounded wonderful at the show, so full and melodic with such a range of tonal qualities. The theater has a very good house sound system with excellent sound engineers - a welcome change. The director was quite good too and paid attention to the volume and tonality of the bass and also whether I could hear it and the other instruments through the monitor. My friends in the audience said the notes came through cleanly and strongly, the Hofner changing character with the music. They said the vintage finish glowed on stage and stood out from the painted guitars. After the show, the lead guitarist of a band came to me to say he loved the sound. His bassist came later to same the same thing.
The bonus came after the show, outside the theater. A man approached me with his daughter (I think he was one of the other performers) and asked if his daughter could please touch the Hofner. The girl, perhaps 13 or so, was giddy with excitement. Of couse, I let her hold the guitar, while the father took pictures.
I just wanted to share that with you. We should be resuming Shadows practice soon (but for that I use the Precision!).
Best regards,
Anna